Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Pawn Stars
Topics: Money, TV, TV and Film, History, US News
Joshua Nair
Topics: Money, TV, TV and Film, History, US News
A woman unknowingly brought an illegal item into an antiques shop to be valued, and was surprised to find out about its past.
The UK might have Antiques Roadshow, but the US have Pawn Stars, their own spin on valuing interesting items with history behind them.
Centred around a 24-hour family-run Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, the TV show is hosted by those that run it: Richard Harrison, his son Rick, his other son Corey, and Corey's friend, Austin Russell.
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Similar to the show in the UK, members of the public come in with their niche antique items in an attempt to sell them, with some even being a part of world history.
But one woman came into the famous pawn shop with an item that hadn't been seen before by the Harrisons, a rare occurrence.
Describing the item, she said: "It's a desk, but it's not really a desk - it's a gun."
That's a first.
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She explained that when you push down on the inkwell on top of the desk, it fires a bullet out of the trap door that is on the front.
Known as a 'novelty gun', the item was brought to the store as the woman wanted to find out more about its history, though she wasn't too fussed if it sold or not.
Revealing that she got the item in an estate sale, Rick then looked at the gun itself, identifying it as a .22 short, which is the oldest metallic cartridge made in the USA.
They called in Sean, an arms and armour expert, to figure out what year it was made.
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He noted that even though he had been collecting guns and weapons since he was 10, he'd never seen something like this item.
Not knowing what it was used for, he explained: "Anything manufactured before 1898 is okay, you can ship it, you can buy and sell, no problem.
"Anything after 1898 has to be registered through an FFL (Federal Firearms License) with the ATF (The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)," he revealed, if she wanted to sell it.
He also added that it was actually a concealed weapon, as the gun itself was hidden.
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The woman couldn't give any more information about the manufacturer or other details about it.
Sean then said that it looked to be made around the 1890s-1910s period, but he couldn't give an exact answer, labelling it as a 'grey area', as it could potentially be illegal to purchase.
He then advised her to bring it to a gunsmith to professionally deactivate the mechanism in the gun desk, which would allow it to be put up for sale.
Rick signed off by adding that he 'really wished he could have bought' the item due to how unique it was, but 'the law is the law'.
What would you even use a gun desk for, anyway?